Nowadays, there is a lot to stream irrespective of the interest.

Social media is a menace on its own. Couple it with your interest and poison of choices like the sports team/club you support, and the toxic possibilities are endless. The average viewer is already distributing the attention between dancing videos and posts pushing agendas similar to theirs.

Sports viewership in general has evolved and we see that in the diverse platforms the games are distributed at the moment.

As I see, these are 3 ways that social media has affected the viewership of football games -

Distributed Attention

When I watch the weekend games, I have to confess, I am distracted.

I am eagerly looking for the reaction of the Fan Channels on Youtube, Twitter, etc. to see if my response syncs up with theirs. The game then turns on its head into a catch-up of reactions between the Fan channels and myself instead of the actual game in front of me.

The result is a very limited understanding of the actual game and a perception-based understanding of the event.

A Student of the game

The average viewer is better at understanding the game as compared to the past viewership.

The age of social media has bombarded the average person with an endless stream of information. We may want the information and it is readily available or we may not dwell on it yet it is thrown in our faces.

The positive impact of it is that we are more aware and understand the game better.

Prejudiced Viewership

There are players with reputations. There are coaches with certain reputations.

Typically as a viewer, one has to take every game on its merit. Accept the mistakes or bask in the unnatural wins, hold a heavy heart to insufficiencies in the team or plainly accept the loss. It is the rollercoaster of emotions in heat of the moment that makes it such an enjoyable experience.

Social Media takes it all away by feeding a constant stream of information based on reputation.

A sport evolves over time. The mechanics, technicalities and physiology evolve with the evolution of technology. A trained mind in its field processes information differently than an average mind.

Social Media has blurred the line to being called an expert by providing an endless stream of information.

It is up to individuals to hold the balance between traditional viewing vs troll-based viewing.